Delicate Arch in Watercolor

When you think of Utah, an image of Delicate Arch from Arches National Park might be one of the first that pops into your head. It’s easily one of Utah’s most famous and iconic landmarks. Heck, it’s even on our license plates!

I have painted Delicate Arch a couple of times as little, fun paintings. The first was when I tried out some watercolor markers on a scrap piece of paper. You can watch a time lapse video of that painting here.

Another time I painted Delicate Arch was when I made a 5x7 birthday card for a close friend. That little painting I made into stickers as well. You can buy one HERE or by clicking on the image.

A couple of months ago, my youngest son requested I make a “big” painting of Delicate Arch and I figured it was time. By big, that’s usually on 11x14 paper. I am still working on organizing my studio space to accommodate larger paper.

I had lots of fun with this one using white gouache paint for the stars instead of masking fluid and really loving the warm purples in the shadows of the arch. I never get tired of painting beautiful red rock.

I have this painting available for sale at prints in 5x7, 8x10, and 11x14. Click on either of the images to link to those listings. This one will be available as a vinyl sticker soon.

HERE you can watch the time lapse video of this latest painting of Delicate Arch.

What should I paint next?

Samy and Leo Painting

My friend and taekwondo master Samery asked me if I’d recreate this photo of her with her husky, Leo in watercolor and I was more than thrilled to do it for her. Corona Arch is one of my favorite hikes in the Moab, UT area as is apparent with how many times I’ve painted it.

This photo proved to be an interesting challenge with the position of the sun and shadows. Samy and Leo are sitting in the shadow of the arch with the sun behind the arch itself, but the shadows have been brightened up considerably. I chose to scoot them forward a little so I could give them a nice cast shadow. This grounded them to the rock better than when I tried to put them in the shade on an early sketch.

Of course, then I was left with what to do with the arch itself with the sun right behind it. The arch should be much darker than it really is and the sun causing a flare on either side. Rather than figure out how to do this in watercolor, I just gave everything a rim light; the arch, Samy, and Leo.

There’s just something cool about a rim light and a cast shadow.

What do you think?

I still go back and forth on whether these were wise decisions and I have debated brightening up the sky in that space where the sun is supposed to be, but the end result is still something I’m happy with. I’ll cut a custom mat for it before giving it to Samy.

Below you can view a TikTok video of the process in time lapse. I did continue to make a few changes after I stopped filming, but it’s pretty close.

Hand Painted Wood Ornaments

A while back I bought a box of little wood slices with the intention of painting them all with little landscapes and giving them as gifts. If I could get enough of them painted before Black Friday, I was considering selling them to hopefully make a few bucks before Christmas. It was mid November before I painted any, so yeah, I think I’ll have to buy another box and try again for next year.

Instead of stressing over getting a bunch of ornaments painted and shipped before Black Friday, I prepped all of them with Watercolor Ground and had the kids who joined us for Thanksgiving paint them. Ages ranged from 4 to 18 and they went to town making some really awesome ornaments. I brought Tombow markers, some inexpensive acrylic paint, and a set of iridescent watercolor that was on sale. I was so proud that they all had fun and spent a good amount of time painting their ornaments on Thanksgiving. It was a great activity for them to all do together that wasn’t a video game.

Watercolor Ground is a painting medium that can be painted onto porous surfaces to allow them to be painted with watercolor or gouache paint. I applied two coats to each of the wood slices and it allowed the wood to behave a little like watercolor paper. It’s not nearly as absorbant and you do get some bleeding or weirdness from the grain of the wood, but it’s overall a much easier surface to paint on than if I’d just painted on raw wood.

Of course I had to paint one wood piece to see how it would turn out and made this little painting of Half Dome from Yosemite National Park. I LOVED how it turned out. The medium doesn’t behave exactly like watercolor paper, but it’s close enough to make for some fun little paintings. On this one I used a combination of watercolor, gouache, and water-based brush pens. I made a TikTok video showing this process that you can see here.

I had so much fun with that first ornament that I had to make another one… or a couple more.

This time I tried for an epic sunset at Joshua Tree National Park. With the sunset I tried harder to get more of the look of a watercolor wash. The paint doesn’t blend quite as well as it does on paper, but I was happy with what I was able to achieve. Then I used gouache and brush pens for the trees and foreground. What a fun and unique park to explore! Here’s is the TikTok video I made of the process.

The next one I did was a Christmas gift for my son’s 2nd grade teacher. She has two parrots and my son had the genius idea to paint her beautiful birds onto one of these ornaments. He sent her an email asking which breeds they are (Blue Fronted Amazon and Solomon Island Eclectus) and she sent him a few photos. I was more than happy to paint them onto the little piece of wood and he wrote his name on the back. You can view the TikTok video here.

The next ornament I made for my sister of Babylon Arch. She and I hiked to this beautiful arch in southern Utah last year while we were both on a women’s retreat. It’s such a magical place with beautiful views of the Virgin River and gorgeous Navajo sandstone. For this ornament I used gouache for the whole thing. It’s been fun to re-remember how to use gouache, get the right consistency, and how to layer to get the affect I want. Here you can view the TikTok video.

For the last ornament I made this year, I made this scene from Coyote Gulch for my friend Michelle. She and I, along with another rad woman, backpacked to Coyote Gulch this past spring. I wrote a long blog post about it earlier this year. The third night of our trip, we camped under this alcove and it was such an epic camping spot. Here’s the TikTok showing this ornament’s progress.

Making these ornaments has been such a joy this fall that I'm planning to order more wood slices and then spend the spring and summer next year painting a stock of them that I will sell online and locally. I am hoping to get into some local arts and crafts fairs and festivals next year selling prints and stickers, so maybe I can sell some of these ornaments there too.

What are some epic locations you’d like to see painted on an ornament?

Backpacking: Coyote Gulch

Today is about backpacking. Although, I did paint en plein air during this trip, so there was some art as well. I have lots of photos too for future painting reference! There will be future paintings from this trip, promise! There are a bunch of affiliate links in this post in case you want to know what gear and food I used and I am always appreciative if you shop through these links.

Image by Michelle Craig

I don't have lots of experience backpacking. I did a couple of short trips when I was 18 and then nothing until I took my oldest son backpacking last August for the first time. If you'd asked me 10 years ago if I wanted to give backpacking a go again, I'm sure I would have said I'm too old. My 11yo asked me about backpacking last year after he watched YouTube videos of folks who backpacked to secluded fishing spots and I figured we could give it a try and see if he liked it. We did a one-night trip in American Fork Canyon and he had a blast. I've done a lot of reading about backpacking, and I plan to take my son a few times this summer, so I don't really feel unprepared; I'm just still a newbie.

My friend, Michelle shared her desire to backpack in the Escalante region of Utah last month and asked if I wanted to join. I jumped at the chance. I already had 99% of the gear I would need, so I just needed to commit and go for it. Michelle’s friend, Sumitra decided to join at the last minute and flew to SLC from Indianapolis and we all drove down to Escalante together.

Coyote Gulch is a meandering, zig-zaggy canyon, carved by the Escalante River, that has massive arches, towering caverns, and waterfalls. There's usually water flowing year-round so it's ideal for backpacking because it has reliable water. It resides inside Glen Canyon National Recreation Area where the Escalante River flows into Lake Powell. There are a handful of access points that can make your trip shorter or longer depending on how long you plan to be there. A few routes can easily make it a day hike, but I HIGHLY recommend backpacking to explore more.

We opted to hike into the Gulch via Hurricane Wash. It's one of the longer routes, but it's also very easy to follow, which is what we were going for. Also, to get to the other access points, we would've needed a vehicle with 4WD and possibly some climbing rope; which we didn't have this trip.

In all honesty, one of the hardest parts of this trip for me was driving on Hole in the Rock Road. It's a dirt and gravel road that's grated like a washboard and it's painfully slow going in a car like my Toyota minivan; like between 10 and 15 MPH most of the way. There are lots of wonderful places to visit along this road, but driving 35 miles one-way took almost 2.5 hours the first day and just over 3 hours the last day. When we do this trip again, I really, really want to have a vehicle that will allow us to get there faster.

Hiking with a heavy pack isn't all that different from hiking with a toddler on my back, so while it's been a while since I hiked carrying a kid, my body remembered how pretty quickly.

We hiked into the canyon late in the afternoon on Tuesday and made good time reaching the confluence of Hurricane Wash and the Escalante River right around headlamp-o-clock. There were at least half a dozen tents camped at the confluence, so we hiked on for another mile before stopping for the night at an empty, sandy beach that stuck out from a bend in the river. As the full moon rose, it cast bright light on the sandstone cliffs and made it look like there was a spotlight. There was no way our cameras could capture it, but it was pretty amazing. It was beautiful watching the stars and bats come out.

In writing this post and sorting through the photos that all three of us took, one thing that stands out to me is that photos really don’t do this canyon justice; especially when it comes to the sheer size of the sandstone cliffs. There are a few shots that have people in them and you can barely see them because the cliffs are so huge. I’ll try to point them out in the captions.

They are so tiny compared to the cliffs!

The next morning we packed up and headed further into the Gulch intending to explore Jacob Hamblin Arch and to get closer to Coyote Natural Bridge or Cliff Arch, depending on how we were feeling. There was some cloud cover that morning, so we were spared having the hot sun beating down on us.

Image by Michelle Craig

Jacob Hamblin Arch was freaking epic!! Cameras really can’t capture the scale. My iPhone struggled with the light, but Michelle’s Galaxy did a great job. I had brought a few stickers with me and made sure to get a photo of my sticker at Jacob Hamblin Arch.

Click on this photo if you’d like to buy one of these stickers.

We hiked further into the canyon and physically in the creek for a little bit, and then set up camp. For lunch I had the vegetarian Pad Thai from Backpacker's Pantry and it was delicious, but it was also a really massive portion; even for two people. I felt bad that I was barely able to eat half of it. Michelle and Sumitra shared the vegan Thai Curry from Good To-Go and it was delicious too… almost shockingly so. I need to find more food options that are just one serving.

After lunch we stocked up on water and snacks with our day packs and headed further into the canyon to see if we could get to the confluence of the Escalante River and one of the northern arms of Lake Powell and also find Stevens Arch; another massive arch in the area. We were also on the lookout for a spot called the Black Lagoon. It's a somewhat-hidden swimming hole that was supposedly easy to find, but also easy to miss if you didn't know where to look. We used satellite and topographic maps that Michelle had downloaded from AllTrails to see if they could help, but alas, we couldn't find it. No hikers we passed seemed to know either.

Coyote Natural Bridge

We didn't see another soul for the hours we were there, soaking up the last of the day's sunlight and watching the bats come out. It was pretty magical.

We headed back to camp and called it a night and fell asleep to a much noisier section of the canyon. The trickle of the river was drowned out by crickets and another creature we assumed was like a cicada, but it sounded like a monkey. I think we ended up hiking about 10 miles total that day.

Cliff Arch. You can see a tiny tent at the bottom of the frame. Helps with scale a little bit.

The next morning we headed out with daypacks on the hunt for the Black Lagoon again. After looking at the maps again, we thought we had a better idea where it might be. We explored for a little bit and "thought" we might have found it, but the water was quite low and didn't look great for swimming. Utah is in a severe drought this year too. We snapped some photos with plans to look online again to see if we had been in the right spot. I have looked at a few blog posts and I still don't think we were in the right spot.

We headed back to our camp, packed everything up, and started heading back toward Jacob Hamblin Arch with plans to camp and then head back to my car the following morning. We stopped for a couple of hours at Swiss Cheese Falls to have lunch and play in the water. Michelle took some photos of the Lily Trotters compression socks she had and we enjoyed the water and the shade. We didn’t see any other hikers for the time we were there either.

We only hiked a little bit further before stopping in what I've seen others call the Great Alcove just before Jacob Hamblin Arch and we decided to set up camp. It was quite an epic place to camp and we chilled for the rest of the afternoon.

We’re so tiny!

Seriously one of the best campsites ever!

I broke out my Art Toolkit and I did a quick painting of the Great Alcove while Sumitra and Michelle went on short, solo hikes. I’ve painted a lot of desert landscapes and I’m used to painting the muted, silvery-greens of sagebrush and yucca. But in this lush canyon, the cottonwood trees are a bright and surreal shade of green that contrasts incredibly with the oranges and red of the sandstone. It almost looks artificial!

Images by Michelle Craig

For dinner I had Peak Refuel's Chicken Pesto Pasta. It was tasty, but a little rough on my stomach. Michelle and Sumitra had the Forever Young Mac n Cheese from AlpineAire. It was really delicious too and we all agreed that it would be great with some tuna thrown in.

We chilled that evening watching the stars come out. It was a pretty perfect evening after a short amount of hiking that let us rest up for what would be a tough hike back out to the trailhead the following day.

The last morning we set out before 8am for the last slog back to the trailhead. We knew we would be pushing 7.5 miles on what was supposed to be the hottest day of the week, and in the middle of the day. We stocked up on water, energy drinks, salt tablets, and hit the trail. The first half was really pleasant with lots of shade.

Once it was all exposed, I really struggled and the last 2 miles were really hard for me. I ran out of water close to the end, but the others were happy to share. It was hot, I was really, really tired, and I was feeling a little nauseated because I should have eaten more at breakfast. But I knew there was a 6-pack of Cokes waiting for me in the cooler of my car and it helped push me to the end.

Overall, we hiked about 27 miles between 4 days. A lot of it was in loose sand.

Would I do it again?? YES!

I know that my 11yo would have a blast, but I don’t know if my 7yo would be up for it quite yet; especially hiking in so much sand. He’d need some seriously motivating factors. Michelle, Sumitra, and I agreed that it would be really fun to bring our kids and I think we’ll talk again and consider trying next spring. They would likely have the most fun if we set up a basecamp in one spot and just explored the canyon with day hikes rather than pack up every day. We also want to learn more info on the alternate routes into Coyote Gulch. Hurricane Wash is the flattest and easiest to navigate, but it’s also the longest with a stretch of about 5 miles with no water. The Sneaker Route is one we’re going to see about because it’s only about 2 miles and places you really close to Jacob Hamblin Arch.

We also would want to have a vehicle that’s an SUV or a truck that can handle going a little faster than 10MPH on Hole in the Rock Road. Hell, we will rent a damned truck if we have to next time!

Image by Michelle Craig

Lessons to Myself for Future Trips:

• Double check that my sunscreen is functioning! Literally right when we got started at the trailhead, I noticed that the nozzle on my sunscreen bottle was broken, rendering it useless. I had sunscreen for my face, but not enough to also use on my arms and shoulders. Thankfully, I had a lightweight, long-sleeved shirt from Columbia that worked for when I needed it. My shoulders still got a little burnt and that shirt was sooooo smelly!

• Get some supportive water sandals like Chacos or Keens. I really would have liked to be able to hike through the water without worrying about my socks getting wet. My hiking boots did amazing, but some sturdy and supportive sandals would have been nice too.

• When the weather is warm, rely more on snacks and less on meals. At mealtimes, if I was tired or really hot, I didn’t feel like making and eating a full meal. I ended up eating all of my snacks, but only a couple of the meals.

• Research more about food options. Michelle taught me about bringing vacuumed-sealed packs of tuna or salmon to add to dehydrated food like Mac n Cheese or to mix with preprepared mayo and spices for a quick sandwich. Payday candy bars don’t melt like chocolate would and are great for when you’re tired of granola bars or energy bars. Tortillas are kinda heavy, but awesome for nut butter sandwiches. They’re also handy for making a breakfast burrito with a breakfast skillet like the one from Mountain House.

• Add arch supports to my hiking boots to keep my feet from pronating when I hike (or consider getting custom insoles). I ended up with blisters inside my heels because of this misalignment. It wasn’t the boots but rather my ankles.

• Bring a swimsuit or quick-drying clothes so I can swim when there’s a place to swim.

Swiss Cheese Falls, my kids would LOVE to play in the water here.

My Gear: (lots of affiliate links here!)

• Deuter Aircontact 60+10 SL Pack (loved it, really comfortable and easy to pack and cram as much into as possible)

• Nemo Disco Men’s Down Sleeping Bag (I’m a side sleeper, a size 16, and I hate mummy bags. Women’s sleeping bags are usually too tight in the shoulders for me and I love the spoon shape of Nemo’s bags)

• Klymit Insulated Pad XL (I debated bringing my son’s Klymit pad that’s a little smaller, would have been nice to have a smidge more space, but not sure I would have rolled off of it. Gonna think about it for future trips.)

• Kelty Dirt Motel 2 Backpacking Tent

• L.L. Bean Stowaway Packpack

• Thermarest Compressible Pillow

• Packing Cubes (mine are from The North Face, bought super cheap at Sierra. Lightweight packing cubes are worth using to keep shit organized and the one that holds my clothes doubles as a pillow)

• Cascade Mountain Tech High Back Chair

• MSR Pocket Rocket backpacking stove & fuel

• Katadyn BeFree 1.0L Water Filter

• Sawyer Mini Water Filter (for backup, the Katadyn has a much faster flow and is easier to fill)

• Nalgene Water Bottle

• Camelbak 3L Water Bladder

• Kelty Origami Trekking Poles (I have Black Diamond poles that I love and are a little lighter than these, but I could NOT find them before this trip. So I grabbed these on clearance at Sierra and they did a great job. I think I prefer cork handles over synthetic, but they served me well and I was very happy to have them.)

• Sunday Afternoons Trucker Hat

• Goal Zero Crush Light

• ENO Moonbeam Headlamp (I have a brighter headlamp from Black Diamond, but the battery needs replacing)

• Kula Cloth, PStyle, and Wag Bags… for nature’s calls.

• Hoka One One Koa Women’s Hiking Boots

• Hoka One One Recovery Sandals

I am sure there are plenty of lighter-weight options for most of my gear. I’m never going to be a UL backpacker, and I’m perfectly alright with that.

Image by Michelle Craig

Worth Bringing: (even when it adds weight)

• A CHAIR! On a whim, I bought the lightweight chair that Costco was selling this year. It’s from Cascade Mountain Tech and it’s about 3.5 pounds and has a 250 pound weight limit. It was SO nice to be able to rest my legs and back every afternoon and evening. I almost didn’t bring the chair because my pack was full, but I was able to strap it to the outside of my pack and it was super easy to bring. I will never NOT bring a chair with me from now on and I’m looking at investing in one that’s lighter weight like the ones from Klymit or Helinox.

• A pillow. To make backpacking and camping more enjoyable on my body, I have been working hard on figuring out the best way to get a good night’s sleep. I learned years ago that I can’t sleep on an inflatable pillow. Then I found that Thermarest makes collapsible pillows filled with memory foam. They come in a bunch of sizes and roll down to less than half their size. They truly feel like I’m sleeping on a real pillow at night and have been really amazing. I actually have two in Small and Large and they come with us on every camping trip and every road trip. The best part: they are machine washable and can go in the dryer.

• Wet wipes. Having some simple wet wipes to scrub down my face, neck, hands, and feet every night really helps me feel cleaner and refreshed. I may or may not use them for a quick PTA bath too. Totally worth bringing.

• A measuring cup. When rehydrating backpacking meals, it’s important to use exactly the right amount of water. Too little and you end up with crunchy chunks of meat or noodles. Too much water and you have mush. A few makers of backpacking food are starting to give us a fill line rather than a measured amount, but a few still list 2/3 of a cup or whatever measured amount. Having a small, plastic measuring cup is really helpful to have; especially if you can store it somewhere out of the way. Mine fits in my cooking pot along with some soap, matches, and my MSR stove.

Image by Michelle Craig

To end, this trip was a truly memorable experience and it has really lit a fire in me that makes me want to delve into backpacking more. While it was physically exhausting and really pushed me outside of my comfort zone, I would totally do it again and it makes me really appreciate how stunningly beautiful Utah is and just how little of it’s gems we’ve seen. And I feel like we’ve seen a lot!

What are some other amazing places to backpack in Utah? Got any suggestions?

Kula Cloth Design Contest - 2021

I entered a new painting into the Kula Cloth Design Contest this week. They are running their second annual contest and the grand prize winner gets $1250 and their artwork on a Kula Cloth to be sold for the whole world to purchase. The 15 designs with the most votes will get 2 Kulas with their artwork on them. I would honestly be stoked to make the top 15. Click HERE to vote!

What is a Kula Cloth? It’s one of the best inventions for people who squat or use a funnel to pee. It’s a washable, reusable, antimicrobial pee cloth for when nature calls when you’re camping, on a the trail, or out where there isn’t a toilet. Heck, even if there IS a toilet, there isn’t always toilet paper, is there? Use your Kula as a pee cloth and you don’t have to worry about packing toilet paper in and out. Clip it to your pack to dry and it’s good to be used again or washed. The fabric dries quickly too.

Image by Zion Adventure Photo - Me hiking with my Kula Cloth

I have had Colonnade Arch, aka Five Hole Arch, on my radar and I just hadn’t painted it yet. It lies close to the Green River kinda near Moab, UT on BLM land. I thought the layout and composition would work great for a diamond shape, so off I went.

Such a beautiful spot to watch a sunrise; which is the vibe I was going for here. I call this one “Windows.”

This is an approximation on what my Kula might look like. I think the corners will be more rounded.

Everyone can only vote one time, but you can vote for as many designs as you’d like. There is some really beautiful artwork on there, Click HERE to vote!